The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

Strength in Numbers

[Sophia]

About a day later, we all gathered by the tree house to start training for real. But when we started wondering what we should start working on first... no one had any ideas. Apollo came up with the idea to gauge Teri and the twins' skills to see where they were at. Since the two of us had more combat experience than them, it seemed smart to build up their skills so they could be up to speed with us.

While Teri had her Mother's trident, truthfully it wasn't exactly the right fit for her as it was quite large and heavy, which can make it awkward to wield or even carry around. And... neither me or Apollo knew how to weild or fight with a trident properly. We decided that practice with the trident should come later and we work on basic hand-to-hand combat and other defensive maneuvers.

Since the twins had little to no combat experience, we started them off the same way too. With a mix of various strength exercises to build up their muscles. Because Apollo used to do laps in the lake, he already had an athletic build and had me join the twins for all the exercises because he said it would be good for me. And unfortunately... he had a good point. Sure, constantly running for my life and all the long trips to the grocery store and back is some form of exercise, but I also wield a sword. Not to mention all the hours I spend at my desk making art and playing games, building better upper body strength would be more than beneficial for me. Even though I had no problem admitting he was right, it didn't make me actually want to do those exercises any more than I should. But I did them anyway. We practically spent all day training and doing exercies, that when we all came back the next day to continue... we couldn't. All of us were so incredibly sore. I could barely move my arms without wincing. Apollo could hardly walk and neither could the twins. Teri couldn't even pull herself out of the pond. We ended up just hanging out that day as we were too exhausted to do anything else and agreed to come back when we had recovered.

By day three, we had all come back ready to continue the grind. And this cycle of training and recovering went on for weeks. And most of the time we didn't even train for the whole day. Sometimes we'd start out exercicing in the morning, only to get... sidetracked by something completely random later. Apollo and Teri tried to keep us on track every time we realized we were getting distracted, but there was never any shortage of distractions.

After a while, we moved Teri and the twins onto more advanced training. Apollo started letting Teri use the trident and practicing various moves and techniques while I taught the twins other maneuvers they could use with their wings for better dodging and evading, before delivering a quick retaliation. Although... most of the time, we were looking at various tutorials on Youtube and trying to follow along with the instructor, hoping we were doing everything correctly since... we weren't entirely sure what we were doing.

One day, underneath the temperate afteroon sun, Teri and Apollo were practicing together, using their powers together for a little target practice. And because it was less strenuous on their muscles. While the twins and I sat under the shade of the tree, watching more videos together as we were still very sore and really didn't want to move unless we had to. Occasionally glancing up at Teri and Apollo to watch them shoot stuff in the air.

Teri would levitate spheres of water into the air and Apollo would try shooting ice at them, freezing the spheres solid as they splashed back down into the pond. Teri would start throwing the liquid targets up faster the better Apollo got, making them more random as Apollo did his best to improve his aim. They later stopped to take a break and to let the frozen targets melt back into water before they froze the entire pond.

"You know... I'm really glad we've been doing all this training. I really believe I've been getting stronger..." Teri stated from afar.

Apollo breathed heavily for a moment before looking over at Teri.

"Yeah... I think so too. Honestly... I've never slept so hard because I'm so exhausted now..."

"Yeah, me too! I practically sink like a rock!"

The two laughed before sitting down by the pond, unable to stand any longer.

"But, you know... there is something else I've been thinking about... that I've realized recently..." Teri continued.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?"

Teri looked back at me and the twins, still watching videos under the tree, not entirely paying attention. But I could hear them talking from where I was sitting.

"Well... all of you have wings... excpet for me. You can go across long distances and avoid obstacles simply by flying over them. I'm... the only one that doesn't have wings. I mean, I'm a strong swimmer and I can handle going down great depths where you can't. But I realize if we need to go anywhere outside of the tree house or the lake and need to move quickly, one of you needs to carry me."

"Yeah... that's true." Apollo agreed. "But, you're really not that heavy, so it's no problem for any of us to carry you if we need to."

"I know, I know, but what I'm saying is... I mean... if we're ever in a situation where... we need to escape danger... you guys can just fly away, but I'm the only one who's stuck to the ground. Or the water. And there might come a time where you won't be able to carry me to safety. And that... could make me a liability if we're ever in a situation like that."

"What? No, Teri... I mean, I get what you're saying. We might not be able to carry you at some point, but you're not a liability!"

Teri smiled, "Thanks... but it's still true. So... I've been thinking..... I really like that show that we're watching, it's given me so much to think about and so many ideas. Which is why..."

Teri hovered an arm over the surface of the pond and pulled a stream of water into the air, bending her fingers around until the water shaped itself into a pair of tiny wings, fluttering back and forth beneath her palm.

"Since I can control water... I can shape it however I want... So if I can control it the right way... I might be able to make myself fly like you!"

Both mine and Apollo's eyes widened at the thought of this. I don't know how I didn't even think of that before.

"Yeah... yeah, yeah! You really think you can do that?" Apollo wondered.

Teri stood up and started focusing on the water in front of her.

"I think so... and if this does work... you're going to have to teach me how to fly."

"Yeah, that's no problem. It's actually easier than you think!"

"Really? Okay, well that's good to hear. Could you hold one of your wings open for me? I want to make sure I'm getting the shape right."

Apollo did so and called us over so he could explain Teri's idea to us as she focused. Pulling in as much water as she could and trying to match it with Apollo's wing shape, before turning around and 'attaching' them to her back. I flared my own wings out and had Teri mirror me so she could understand how wings moved. It almost felt weird, seeing someone control a pair of wings with their arms, but it helped Teri concentrate. Now the real work began when it was time to see if she could get up into the air. Apollo taught her how to bend her wings correctly and the twins instructed her to push them hard and jump into the air at the same time. Teri did so and was surprised when her feet left the ground as she lifted herself into the air before slamming back down and catching herself without stumbling. She looked at all of us in shock.

She did it. She could actually get up into the air.

We all praised her and started giving her the real lessons on how to fly. She admitted she was a little nervous as she tried to see how long she could stay up in the air. She pushed her wings hard, still surprising herself whenever her feet came off the ground. We told her to push harder, get higher up into the air. But whenever she got more than five feet, she would start freaking out and struggle to keep herself steady in the air. She was all over the place and kept falling to the ground. Teri took a moment to catch her breath and re-form her wings before getting ready to push off again. Apollo decided to come up with her, and the twins and I backed up to give them some space so they wouldn't kick up any dirt in our eyes.

"Just look at my wings. Do what I do. Don't look at the ground. Just focus up here, okay?" Apollo instructed Teri.

"Yeah, okay, okay. I got it."

The twins and I tried to stay quiet as the two of them jumped up into the air. Teri breathed heavily as she climbed higher. Apollo reminded her to relax, keep her legs straight and her wings in sync. Teri lifted herself higher as Apollo stayed beneath her to give her more space while assuring her he wasn't going anywhere. Teri glanced back at the ground to the air, seeing the sky getting closer and closer. She couldn't stop herself from smiling when she climbed out of the trees and the ground beneath her got smaller.

"I'm actually doing it! I can't believe this is actually worked! I'm actually flying!" she cheered.

The twins and I yelled from the ground, unsure if she was able to hear us. Apollo instructed her to try and come back down without crashing. Teri wasn't sure if she could, but we all watched as she managed to avoid the trees, slowly dropping herself before landing back on the ground, looking at us excitedly as we all praised her. For her first time flying, she actually did pretty well. Teri relaxed her arms, the wings losing their shape and becoming nothing more than a stream of water where it was tossed back into the pond before she twirled around happily.

The next couple of days after that, Teri continued to practing drawing water from the pond quickly and forming them into a pair of wings where Apollo continued to give her flying lessons along with their usual workouts. The twins and I also resumed our exercises, but we often got distracted watching Teri and we each took turns giving her advice and other tips.

This series of flying lessons and exercices also went on for weeks. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was getting any stronger. I just felt more tired coming home and more soreness in my limbs. I could barely lift my arms up to grab a plate from the kitchen cabinet. Apollo was just about as exhausted as I was, but he was really proud of all the progress Teri was making, including himself. While I was really happy for Teri, I was also too tired to feel anything other than... being tired. But I really hoped all this training and exercising would pay off at some point.

I asked Apollo if we would ever finish watching our show, as we hadn't gotten back to it in some time and we just made it to the final season. Apollo said maybe at the end of the week, we can binge the entire thing, maybe get some takeout and just make it a whole day, maybe like a reward for all the work we put into training. I agreed. That sounded really nice.

By the end of the day, I practically collapsed in my bed. While I knew all this training stuff was good for us, there were so many other things I hadn't had time to do lately. So many drawings left unfinished, so little time spent playing games, almost too exhausted to stay focused on them for more than an hour. But as I turned off the lights and gazed out my window into the darkness of the night, I began to think...

I'm sure we've gotten much stronger before we started all the training. And we know the Shadovians... and that... that thing is still out there, probably waiting for the right time to attack us again. And while I believe we can handle those threats much better than before..... what do we do... after we're done with all the training? Are we... ever going to stop, or are we... just going to take longer breaks? Were we..... weren't we... doing something else before this? Were we supposed to be doing something else...? Figuring out what..... what we're........ why do I feel like... there was something else........

We're not..... misssing something..... are we?